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Syrupy Orange and Cardamom Steamed Puddings

This new creation is inspired by one of our most popular recipes from last year, the Fragrant Orange Cake with Spiced Golden Syrup. As a winter dessert I’d been wanting to create a proper steamed pudding to get that beautifully soft yet moist texture. It does take a little more effort to prepare the pudding cups for steaming, but you just can’t get the same texture in a regular cake.

After playing with different approaches, I’ve finally settled on the combination of fragrant zest and punchy cardamom, steamed into perfect little puds each soaked with sticky orange syrup. I’ve made the recipe to serve four as you can manage this with a single large orange (and four pudding cups just fit into my double steamer!). This portion makes plenty of syrup to serve on the side so you can keep drenching that pudding as you eat! Add a dollop of cream if you like, but I’ve moderated the sugar such that these little beauties are perfect just as they come.

Syrupy Orange and Cardamom Steamed Puddings

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 55 mins

Serves: 4

The perfect comfort dessert for a winter night, you’ll be glowing with citrus warmth!

Ingredients

125g butter, softened

75g caster sugar

3 eggs

125g self-raising flour

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom

Zest of 1 large orange, finely grated

2-3 tablespoons milk

For the syrup:

160ml orange juice

120g caster sugar

Instructions

First you need to start the syrup. Finely grate the zest of your orange and set aside for later. Now juice the orange and strain 160ml into a small saucepan (to remove the pulp). (If you have less juice you can scale down the sugar in the next step.)

Add the 120g of caster sugar to the saucepan bring the mixture to a simmer over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve. Continue simmering for about 15 minutes to reduce to a thicker syrup. Cool small spoonfuls of syrup to test the thickness as it reduces. (Always keep an eye on a reducing syrup, as it reaches high enough heat it can boil over very quickly, if you see it frothing take it off the heat and check if it’s ready.)

While the syrup is reducing you can start your pudding batter. Add the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat until light and creamy (a standing mixer is best if you have one).

Add the eggs one at a time, combining each one well before adding the next.

Remove the bowl from the mixer. Sift in the flour and cardamom and add the orange zest. Fold to combine the dry ingredients into the batter.

At this point you should have a smooth batter, but it may still be a bit thick. For moist puddings you need to bring the batter to a dropping consistency (where it will readily slide off a tilted spoon under its own weight) by gradually adding milk. Add milk a spoonful at a time, stirring well and testing the consistency until it is ready.

Grease four individual pudding cups with a little butter, then add a tablespoon of orange syrup to each one. Divide the batter evenly among the cups but be sure to leave some room for expansion (at least 1cm). Even out the surface of the batter in each cup.

Cover the cups with a square of baking paper then a square of foil, pleated in the middle allow extra expansion room. Secure the coverings to the cups with twine.

Cook the puddings in a double steamer over boiling water until just cooked through, about 22-25 minutes. Remove from the steamer and allow to cool slightly before uncovering and turning out of the cups. You may need to carefully run a knife around the edge of the cup to dislodge the puddings.

Serve warm with extra syrup at the ready!

Notes

If you don’t have pudding cups then ramekins or even teacups can be used in their place. Keep in mind that cooking time will vary based on the shape of the cups, though!